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TES: The largest network of teachers in the world
Portions not contributed by visitors are Copyright 2018 Tangient LLC
TES: The largest network of teachers in the world
Developing Academic Literacy
Themes and Messages:
Problems with reading affect self image. Students who struggle with reading may see themselves as somehow different from their peers who "get it."
It is vital that students learn to read a variety of texts independently. Literacy instruction can help them to become engaged, fluent, and competent readers of the various types of texts necessary for their success across disciplines in high school, in postsecondary education, in employment, and in everyday life.
The Academic Literacy Program's efforts need to be implemented and supported across the entire curriculum. This means that all of the faculty members in the school should be made aware of the programs efforts and regularly updated on their students' progress in the program.
An Academic Literacy Program should include all students in order to ensure that no specific students are singled out and that no other students' reading problems are ignored. All students can benefit from additional literacy instruction and can learn from their fellow classmates.
The Academic Literacy Program should be based on specific learning goals and supported by research that is applicable to the specific learners.
The texts used in the Academic Literacy Program should portray different views of the role of reading in people's lives, give students practice reading in a variety of different disciplines, and be appropriately challenging (not too difficult, but difficult enough that students would be motivated to utilize new strategies).
Students need to understand what reading is and what proficient readers do when they read. In order to create appropriate learning goals for themselves, they should come to understand themselves as readers by asking themselves about their characteristics as a reader, what strategies they use to read, what role reading plays in their current and future lives, and their reading goals.
Key Questions for School Librarians:
Do students in your school have the skills to read or are they provided with opportunities to practice independently reading a variety of different types of texts that they might encounter in their high school and postsecondary classes and future careers?
Does the school library or media center collection currently include texts and materials that will support an Academic Literacy Program?
How can we support the classroom instructors who are working to implement an Academic Literacy Program or improve literacy in different disciplines across the curriculum?
In what ways can we market Silent Sustained Reading (SSR) in the library or media center?
How can we encourage the development and practice of literacy skills in our library or media center?
Strategies:
Silent Sustained Reading (SSR) - see instructions for setting up SSR on p. 65
- Students should choose their own books.
- SSR should happen for 20-25 minutes at least 2 times a week.
- The expectation is that students will read at least 200 pages per month.
- Along with reading, students should maintain a reflective reading log, write reflective letters about their reading to the teacher, and design a project or presentation about their book. (see pp. 68-69 for instructions)
Because they will be held accountable for their reading, they will begin to reengage in reading behaviors. If SSR is treated as a serious endeavor, they will begin to recognize the importance of independent reading.Reciprocal Teaching (RT)
- Questioning
- Clarifying
- Summarizing
- Predicting
All of these actions will serve to increase student understanding and reinforce reading comprehension. They engage students with the text and make reading an interactive experience. They take the emphasis off of the teacher and place the responsibility of reading on the student.Explicit Instruction in self-monitoring and cognitive strategies that facilitate reading a variety of texts
Ongoing student reflection
- Classroom discussion
- Learning logs
- Double-entry journals
- Letters
- Essays
Students will be able to see real evidence of their reading growth, which will motivate them to keep striving to improve their reading skills. Varied outlets for reflection will provide students practice with engaging with writing and speaking in different formats and in different tones, all while keeping their attention on the course goals and their own progress.NOTES:
The entire freshman class of an "Academic" high school in San Francisco increased their reading comprehension by two years after taking a course called "Academic Literacy." The students expressed pride and surprise about the changes in themselves.
The gains that students made their freshman year continued to hold through their senior year in the Academic school.
The authors of the book are teachers at that urban public high school. They implemented the class because they saw that the majority of the freshmen in the school seemed "unable to independently read and understand the variety of texts assigned in their history, science, English, and math classes."
The school was extremely ethnically diverse, with 13% ELL students. Educationally Disadvantaged Youth (EDY) are 43% of the school's population. (They scored below the fortieth percentile on the reading or math portions of the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS).
Many students were "unprepared for the demands of a curriculum geared to prepare them to succeed at a four-year college." During the school's first years, many students failed classes or did not complete their coursework. Because of their academic struggles, these students "saw themselves as somehow significantly different from heir peers to 'got it,' academically speaking."
The real problem stemmed from a history of problems with reading.
The goal of Academic Literacy: to prepare students "to become more confident and competent in reading the kinds of texts they would be assigned in different disciplines throughout the rest of their high school classes and beyond."
This effort would eventually need to be implemented into classes across the entire curriculum.
Academic Literacy was a required course for all freshman.
- Readers of all levels could learn from each other.
- The teachers did not want to single out students to receive special reading instruction and not address the needs of other students.
- The teachers believed that the faculty would be more supportive of the program if it affected ALL of their students.
CONCERNS:
- Some teachers worried that Academic Literacy would replace another core course or eliminate students' chances to take another elective.
- Some teachers worried that students would not be engaged by the course.
- There were no pre-existing curriculum or assessment tools for the course.
Team committed to updating faculty on the course progress and report on student achievement.
All of the faculty members involved in creating the course made a commitment to meet each week to plan, update, and refine the curriculum for the course.
The texts that they sought out for the course:
- Portrayed different views of the role of reading in people's lives
- Gave students practice with a variety of disciplinary readings (different academic subjects)
- Were appropriately challenging (Not too difficult, but difficult enough that students would be motivated to utilize new strategies)
Mission of Academic Literacy: To help ninth graders become higher-level, strategic readers.
Focus of Academic Literacy: Helping students to become engaged, fluent, and competent readers of the various types of texts necessary for their succcess across disciplines in high school, in postsecondary education, in employment, and in everyday life.
The course was designed around learning goals, and the teachers sought ways to apply research findings to their individual students' needs.
Students explored: What reading is and what proficient readers do when they read.
They signed off on class guidelines that outlined expectations and procedures.
They were encouraged to get to know themselves as readers and to build their motivation for reading by asking themselves questions about their characteristics as a reader, what strategies they use to read, what role reading plays in their current and future lives, and their reading goals.
Unit 1: Reading Self and Society: students focus on inquiry into the personal and public worlds of reading through guided reflection into their own and others' reading histories and experiences.
They read narratives and take the POV's of those authors to question the purpose of reading.
Students begin SSR of books they choose for themselves. (20-25 minutes, 2+ times a week).
Expectation of reading 200+ pages each month, maintaining a reflective reading log, writing reflective letters about their reading to the teacher, and designing a project or presentation about their book.
This SSR helps students see how important reading is.
Unit 2: Reading Media:
Students are introduced to commercials as visual texts. They investigate texts as authors' creations in particular time and places with specific purposes, audiences, and POVs.
They learn about visual metaphors, symbolism, persuasive argument, key messages, casting, storyboard sketching, production notes, and targeted audiences. They create their own commercials.
Unit 3: Reading History:
Designed to help students put their personal experiences in a historical context through understanding modern expressions of totalitarianism and intergroup agression.
Students learn to use a set of strategies for reading subject area textbooks and primary source documents.
Unit 4: Reading Science and Technology:
Students use strategies for reading science textbooks and primary source documents. They explore and report on a variety of texts